Gulf War

The Gulf War (2 August 1990-28 February 1991) was a war waged by a United Nations coalition of 34 nations against Ba'athist Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait in August 1990. The UN forces, predominantly consisting of soldiers from the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Saudi Arabia, routed Iraqi forces in Kuwait using new technology such as smart bombs, drones, and new tanks, and the Iraqis were ultimately forced to withdraw from Kuwait and disarm their military. The incomplete disarmament process would later lead to the 2003 Iraq War.

In 1990, Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator, ordered the Iraqi Army to invade Kuwait and take over its oil fields, as Iraq had slid into a massive recession following the Iran-Iraq War. The United Nations demanded that Saddam withdraw all Iraqi troops from Kuwait in an ultimatum issued in late 1990, and Saddam refused, saying that "the mother of all battles" had begun. 700,000 US Army troops and 256,600 coalition troops were deployed to the Arabian Peninsula, and they launched a massive ground campaign, codenamed "Operation Desert Storm", in February 1991, following intense aerial bombardment of Iraqi positions. The Coalition forces engaged the Iraqis in several battles in southern Iraq, with a few skirmishes being fought in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia; the most notable of these was the Battle of Khafji on the Saudi border with Iraq. American bombers broadcasted live footage of the war from above on American television, helping the war effort. American forces engaged in major tank battles at 73 Easting and Medina Ridge in late February, and Iraqi forces burned down Kuwaiti oil fields as they withdrew back into Iraq. From 25 to 27 February 1991, retreating Iraqi forces were massacred by Coalition bombers as they retreated down the "Highway of Death", and the roads out of Kuwait City were littered with burnt-out vehicles and Iraqi dead. On 28 February 1991, the Iraqi government agreed to a ceasefire with the Coalition, although a retreating Iraqi column was ambushed on the Rumaila causeway on 2 March; over 700 Iraqi soldiers were killed in a controversial breach of the ceasefire.

The Iraqi government agreed to withdraw from Kuwait, and the Kuwaiti emir Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah returned to the throne of Kuwait. Coalition forces remained in the Gulf for decades, and Coalition planes periodically bombed Iraq from 1991 to 2003 to enforce no-fly zones set up over the country to protect the Shi'ites and Kurds, who had rebelled against Iraq with the hope that they would be assisted by the coalition - they were not, and they were slaughtered en masse. Of 956,600 Coalition troops who had fought in the war, a total of 292 were killed, with 147 being killed by Iraqis and 145 being killed by friendly fire. Of 650,000 Iraqi soldiers mobilized for the war, up to 35,000 were killed and over 75,000 wounded. The war saw the first use of "smart bombs" and drones on the part of the United States, although these bombs killed 3,664 Iraqi civilians. The war was also infamous for "Gulf War syndrome", a post-traumatic stress disorder that affected US troops, caused by a mixture of the US Army's use of chemical-coated tank shells and the Iraqis' use of chemical weapons. The Gulf War would lead to al-Qaeda and several other jihadist groups becoming enemies with America, as Osama bin Laden was angered that US troops (whom he called "crusaders" due to the fact that most of them were Christian) were stationed close to the holy Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. The rise of jihadism during the 1990s and dissatisfaction over the disarmament of Iraq would ultimately culmintae in the Iraq war of 2003.